Broken-link icon not updated when "unbroken"

[humdinger]

This is hrev46288.

• Install some package
• Create a link to the installed app on e.g. Desktop
• Move the package out of the packages folder (=deactivate) -> Link on Desktop shows broken link

• Move the package back in (=activate) -> Link on Desktop still shows broken link

The icon will only update to the "un-broken" app's icon after copying any file to the Desktop or if you create a new file/folder.

Might that be distantly related to #7648?

[dsuden]

This is still an issue...we run into it daily as we update packages here.

[dsuden]

Admin, could you please CC me to this ticket so I can find it in future?

[ttcoder]

Might be a 'missing feature' rather than a bug (technically)

When a symlink exists, it's of course possible to node-monitor its target, but once the target disappears you can no longer node-monitor anything directly.. Or maybe one could come up with a scheme where you monitor the /parent directory/ of the temporarily defunct target, watching for the target's re-appearance.. That would make for complicated code.. But would look behaviorally perfect on screen: target re-appears, icon "un breaks", sha-zam.

Other than that, maybe a stop-gap measure would be satisfying to users, like checking for the target when the broken icon is left /clicked/.. After all, there does seem to be stop-gap measures in place already: for example if a new file is created on desktop, all other icons (not just the newly created file) are checked, possibly resulting in an un-breaking of the broken symlink icon.

Disclaimer: I didn't look at Tracker source code.. But the bug/behavior is reproducible with easy steps in any folder:

/boot/system/cache/tmp/New folder> mkdir New\ folder/
/boot/system/cache/tmp/New folder> touch New\ folder/foo
/boot/system/cache/tmp/New folder> ln -s New\ folder/foo foolink
/boot/system/cache/tmp/New folder> rm New\ folder/foo 
/boot/system/cache/tmp/New folder> touch New\ folder/foo